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Kikheto Sema with his team of officers and farmers at kiwi plantation in Tsupfume village on April 3.[/caption]
Kohima Bureau
Kohima, April 3 (EMN): Secretary Land Resources and Finance, Y Kikheto Sema, accompanied by a host of officers from Land Resources and Finance Department visited Integrated Watershed Management Project (IWMP) at Tsupfume and Chizami villages in Phek district on April 3. The team visited Kiwi farms in Tsupfume village, also known as vegetable village.
Interacting with farmers during the visit, Sema has encouraged the farmers to carry on the farming activities with sincerity and hardwork and assured that even if IWMP comes to a conclusion; the department would assess the projects and reward the villagers. He informed that the department would introduce more crops and assist them according to their performances.
The villagers informed that owing to bad weather conditions in the previous year, they could harvest only about 10 metric tonnes of Kiwi. However, they are expecting to harvest around 15 metric tonnes in the current year. The farmers are also engaged in plum plantation.
Having learned that Tsupfume villagers were marketing Kiwi to Kohima, Imphal, and Mizoram, Sema has assured to explore the possibility of erecting permanent structures for Kiwi crops to enhance productivity. He further urged them to work towards making their farming activities a role model for others to follow.
The team also visited water harvesting ponds, which was initiated during the first batch of IWMP. During the visit, Sema instructed the district project officer, Phek, to indentify springshed areas for the purpose of water recharge.
Highlighting the prospects in coffee plantation, Sema encouraged the farmers to explore coffee plantation as it can sustain for 40-50 years. He told the farmers not to have any apprehension about marketing the produce stating that marketing of coffee has been channelised.
Later, the team also visited Chizami and interacted with the farmers and village elders. Chizami is engaged in banana and yongchak plantations initiated by the department through first batch IWMP. Awareness on coffee plantation was also disseminated to the farmers. The secretary said that the department was ready to converge with any allied department for the purpose of transforming rural livelihood and uplift their economy.